The Coronavirus pandemic emerges to be the top priority for everyone across the globe, scientists and researchers are working day and night to study the virus and find an antidote against it.
In new research, it has been found that the coronavirus can potentially be dismantled by the ultrasound vibrations that are used in medical diagnostics. The research was conducted by MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.
During the research, the virus was introduced to acoustic vibrations and was kept under observation, it was studied that how the vibrations rippled through the virus structure across a range of ultrasound frequencies.
Experiment:
In the research, the team modelled the virus’ mechanical response to vibrations across a range of ultrasound frequencies and found that vibrations between 25 and 100 megahertz triggered the virus’ shell and spikes to collapse and start to rupture within a fraction of a millisecond.
Observation:
When they exposed the virus to 100 MHz ultrasound excitations, the virus’s natural vibrations were initially undetectable. But within a fraction of a millisecond the external vibrations, resonating with the frequency of the virus’ natural oscillations, caused the shell and spikes to buckle inward, similar to a ball that dimples as it bounces off the ground.
It was observed that these spike-like proteins in SARS-COV2 latch onto healthy cells and trigger the invasion of viral RNA. While the virus geometry and infection strategy are generally understood, little is known about its physical integrity.
This effect was seen in simulations of the virus in the air and water, the report said.
“We’ve proven that under ultrasound excitation the coronavirus shell and spikes will vibrate, and the amplitude of that vibration will be very large, producing strains that could break certain parts of the virus, doing visible damage to the outer shell and possibly invisible damage to the RNA inside,” said Tomasz Wierzbicki, professor of applied mechanics at MIT.
Researchers of MIT believe, “The hope is that our paper will initiate a discussion across various disciplines.”
(With Inputs From MIT Research)